The 10 Biggest Social Media Marketing Fails Of 2013
10. Strip club chain Spearmint Rhino's Melbourne team thought they'd be naughty and have Facebook users guess whose baby picture they uploaded. It didn't take long for users to look at the VHS sceenshot's timestamp and realize that the future stripper was now only 14-years-old. Spearmint Rhino "liked" its own post.
9. Kmart was excited to reveal they would be open earlier than ever this Thanksgiving, and would stay open through all of Black Friday. So when customers complained about the ethics of the decision, a stumbling Kmart social team responded with over 100 caveman-like statements.
@jennbrazen Kmart is staffing w/ teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them opportunity to make extra money during holiday.
— Kmart (@Kmart) November 6, 2013
@nuggetfan4life Kmart is staffing w/ teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them opportunity to make extra money during holiday.
— Kmart (@Kmart) November 5, 2013
@AnnalisaAlosco Kmart is staffing w/ teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them opportunity to make extra money during holiday.
— Kmart (@Kmart) November 5, 2013
8. Few things hurt a brand more than an accusation of racism. So even though it's impossible to tell if this tweet from Home Depot was indeed racist or simply stupid, the fact that the Twittersphere was up in arms over it made corporate delete the tweet, apologize for two days, and fire the social media agency responsible.
7. This one is up for debate, but we firmly consider the Colorado nonprofit "Thanks Obamacare!" campaign to be a total fail. Even if some may consider portraying potential customers as morons to be clever marketing, it gave Obamacare critics way too much easy fodder.
6. British entertainment retailer HMV lost complete control of its social media team, when rogue members used the account to childishly live-tweet a massive firing at the company.
5. London Luton Airport tapped into the always-hilarious topic of plane crashes for a Facebook post in March. The photo they used came from a 2005 Chicago flight that slid off the runway and killed a 6-year-old boy onboard.
4. Pepsi's Swedish branch released a set of Facebook ads featuring a voodoo doll of competitor Portugal's megastar Cristiano Ronaldo tied to train tracks, getting his head crushed in, and covered in pins. They were forced to quickly remove them and apologize after a Portuguese anti-Pepsi Facebook group formed and gained over 100K fans in a day.
3. J.P. Morgan thought it could engage its consumer base through an enlightening Twitter Q&A session. Except they were completely ignorant of what their brand represented to the trolling masses of the Internet. Even respected journalists joined in on six hours of harassment fun.
Tomorrow at 1pm ET $JPM Vice Chairman Jimmy Lee takes over @JPMorgan to answer your questions for 1 hour. Tweet your Q early using #AskJPM
— J.P. Morgan (@jpmorgan) November 13, 2013
@jpmorgan How far do you and your financial sector gang members think you can push things before you are driven off the continent? #AskJPM
— Eric Somerville (@EricSomerville) November 13, 2013
When will you all go to jail? @jpmorgan #AskJPM
— Goran Ðukanovic (@xygoius) November 13, 2013
@jpmorgan where do I send my resume? I'm smart and have very flexible morals.
— moaaaarrrrr (@sjshmo) November 13, 2013
What's it like working with Mexican drug cartels? Do they tip? #AskJPM
— David Dayen (@ddayen) November 13, 2013
Etc.
Tomorrow's Q&A is cancelled. Bad Idea. Back to the drawing board.
— J.P. Morgan (@jpmorgan) November 14, 2013
2. Cooking site Epicurious thought they could help people chill out about the Boston Marathon bombing by promoting some recipes on Twitter. Brands have made inappropriate marketing jokes on Twitter before, but Epicurious raised the bar. "Whole-grain cranberry scones!"
Perhaps the most insensitive and tacky response to the Boston Marathon tragedy?: http://t.co/FtFnuVoqDc by @epicurious #ScrewYourScones
— Statman Jon (@Statman_Jon) April 18, 2013
Here's a lesson on how NOT to tweet: Epicurious Tweets Inappropriately after Boston Marathon Tragedy - http://t.co/uKGWY0CJ0i
— CBarrows (@CBarrows) April 19, 2013
Rotten #PR! @epicurious preys on Boston Marathon news to promote. Guess "class" isn't a #brand trait. http://t.co/3uuulWdc0n @unmarketing
— Heather Watters (@HeatherWatters) April 16, 2013
1. Amy's Baking Company in Scotsdale, Arizona, were featured in a particularly grueling episode of Gordon Ramsay's 'Kitchen Nightmares.' When the episode prompted a string of wave of negative feedback, the restaurant's two owners took to Facebook in one of the most psychotic and bizarre public rants. They tried defending their restaurant against Reddit and Yelp users with expletives, all-caps, and inciting God. Legendary.
It's worth checking out more of this meltdown on Foodbeast. Also noteworthy that when the dust settled, the owners thought they could turn some of their viral rant into slogans for t-shirts and hats.
You've seen the year's worst, now see some of the year's best:
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